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I was planing to make a ridge line for my wife's tarp out of 1/4" Amsteel just to help protect her against possible dead-falls. I have alot of trees in my yard and I have had a few close calls during windy days when the pine trees smack into each other and knock off their branches so I have started to develop a bit of a paranoia over it. I try to not worry about things out of my control but it sits in the back of your mind sometimes.

Good looking tarp! I like it. Not sure just how much protection it'll offer from falling branches, but it sure does look nice. Very professional.

Originally Posted by RickNC

This is good to know! I am hanging in Ft. Clinch at the end of the month. I have some straps I never used on a DIY I can tie to my lines from my ENO ProFly, but there is such little tension in a tarp, it seems a bit like overkill. I'm still new to hanging so forgive me if I'm wrong, but can the tension from a tarp line really do damage to a tree?

The consensus seems to be "maybe", but I'm not an arborist, so...

The real reason for the tarp straps here is that it was illegal to tie anything to a tree in FL state parks until the pilot program started last April. This is a way of getting the powers-that-be to consider hammocks as a viable camping option--note that they've not said that hammocks will definitely be allowed after this year, yet.

And, honestly, I don't blame the folks running it much; think about some of the...ahem...fine consumers...you've seen in front-country campgrounds over the years. "LNT" doesn't seem to be a part of their lexicon. If the straps weren't part of the whole shebang, I'm sure some fool would wind up trying to wire a tarp to a tree or pound in a nail to hang it or something else silly like that.

I tried using grosgain for my tarp lines. It was strong enough, and I liked the solid feel of it, but I origionally wanted to use triglide buckles to adjust the lines---only problem is, its really hard to find buckles that work with grosgain without slipping! So, I ended up going with cord and line loks instead

FYI: If you want to know what type a certain bear is, sneak up behind it and kick it. Then,
run like crazy and climb up a tree. If the bear climbs the tree and eats you, it's a black
bear. If the bear just pushes the tree over and eats you, it's a grizzly bear : )

Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either, just leave me alone.
--unknown

No ridgeline will stop a direct hit from a large branch/tree. It will, however, absorb some of that energy prior to failure, and that is energy your body won't have to deal with. Also, indirect hits, where the branch hits the ground and pivots onto the rl may be stopped.

If you want to get the most benefit from your webbing, upgrade the biner at the tree, and put a slippery half hitch behind your rings on the other end.

Nothing55, how are you attaching the tarp to the webbing? Is it adjustable along the ridge line, or fixed?

The tarp has loops sewn in at eash end...so I tie a double hald hitch the to loops and attact that line to the webbing...I left it up for over a week now and had a snow storm here and rain and then a ton of wind..

The whole setup didnt budge an inch....and I put mu entire body weight of 180 lbs on it and took a few logs and threw them at the ridgh line and it just took it...

so all in all it's a success...adds 1 lb to the pack, so I may agument some of the webbing with amsteel grey 1/4"...

I'm using amstel right now and there is really nothing wrong with it...I just wanted to try somthing different and somthing that I could hang all of my gear on under the tarp.... I'll order the straps tomorrow and take some pic when i get the whole think set up...

Thanks for the input all, hope everyone has a good hang this season!!!

Have you tried it with all your gear hanging yet? If so how do you like it and how does it affect the way the tarp hangs?